Today was a big day for Disney, Lucasfilm, writer/director Rian Johnson and everyone involved in the production of Star Wars: Episode VIII. The first full day of filming has wrapped up with presumably no issues, the principle cast has been announced, and three all-new cast members have been confirmed including one big name surprise that was trending on Twitter earlier today.
Returning to a galaxy far, far away for Episode 8 are the main surviving characters from Star Wars: The Force Awakens as played by Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Gwendoline Christie, and Andy Serkis. Expect secondary characters such as Admiral Ackbar to also carry forward into the new installment.
Joining the main cast for Star Wars: Episode VIII is previously rumored Benicio Del Toro (Guardians of the Galaxy, Sicario), veteran actress Laura Dern (Wild, Jurassic Park), and fresh young newcomer Kelly Marie Tran whose IMDB page likely blew up with page views today. I envision at least a full year’s worth of Dern is Rey’s mom theories ahead of us.
Accompanying the big Star Wars announcement is a 30-second teaser video that flashes back to The Force Awakens finale and then shows Rian Johnson in presumably the same location, announcing that Episode 8 is underway. Hopefully we get another tease or even some kind of visual leak within the next few months. I’m sure TMZ is all over that.
A quick peek at social media reveals a couple Star Wars: Episode VIII related tweets from none other than Rian Johnson and Finn himself, John Boyega. Don’t expect Boyega to show anything on social media after the young actor shared a picture of himself riding through the desert to The Force Awakens set back in 2014 that was quickly deleted.
https://twitter.com/rianjohnson/status/699317711684431874
First day on Star Wars 8 complete ! We must face them! Fight them!
— John Boyega (@JohnBoyega) February 15, 2016
